T2 Update

Instead of breaking the year into Quarters like the business world, and since Three is the Magic Number, we here at the Williams Family Blog are going to break our year into Thirds.   You've already gotten the T1 Update of January through April, so lookie lookie, it all works out!

May
May was very busy and fun.  It began with Kim having a girl's getaway in Las Vegas.  While she was there I was the Homeschool teacher, and I think we all remember how that turned out.  Upon her return, we celebrated Drew's 6th Birthday with a Lord of the Rings theme, and, once again, Kim created a masterpiece of a cake.

May also saw Elliot celebrate his First Holy Communion!  He was so excited and we are so proud of him.  Gran and Pop Williams and Grandma and Grandpa Harvey came in to celebrate the special day with Elliot.

We closed out May with our first ever trip to Schlitterbahn Galveston.  We had so much fun and look forward to going back!

June
In June we tried to stay as cool as possible!  Evan recieved his rank of Scout in Boy Scouts and we spent many a day on the "dirt trails" playing and fishing.

July
We started July by volunteering for a flag route on the Fourth of July.  Evan, Elliot and Drew all woke up bright and early to put out 60+ flags around Mills Branch in Kingwood.  We picked them up that evening.  What a great day.

August
August was a very fun month for us, packed with many activities including Dylan's 3rd birthday and our first vacation in Texas Hill Country. 

For Dylan's birthday, we all gathered at Gran and Pop's and celebrated with a(nother) Dinosaur-themed party!  I can't recall how many dinosaur birthdays we've had throughout the years, but it has been quite a few.

At the end of August, I played music at a Fullness of Truth Conference in San Antonio.  We spent the weekend at the beautiful Hyatt Hill Country Resort, enjoying the grounds and taking in some solid Catholic teachings.

When it was over, we spent a day in San Antonio visiting the Alamo and the Riverwalk, and then a week in a farmhouse on over 60 acres in Johnson City, TX.  It was wonderful!  Oh, the views of that landscape and the quaint little towns.  Our farmhouse was right out of a picture book.  The look, feel and smell of that farmhouse brought me back to our old family Camp in Bundick Lake and it also reminded me of my Grandmother's house in Bull Shoals Arkansas.  There was a playhouse in the backyard that served as the boys' "home base" for their daily battles, and a bunk house that had a pool table.

Vacationing in Hill County is a big change for us, and we filled it with excursions to nearby attractions and just plain old decompressing under the large oak tree watching the boys play.  We spent one day walking around Fredericksburg and on the way back we took detour to pass through Luckenbach, Texas, and I was officially converted to the side who yearn to get back to the basics of life.  Jimmy Lee Jones was the leader of the picker's circle that day, and even though it was a bit early, he brought his guitar inside to get out of the heat and he played a few songs for us.  After he was done he looked at Evan and said, "Ok, now it's your turn," and when Evan said "OK", I think it took him by surprise!  He asked Evan if he played and if he needed a pick, but Evan had his own in his pocket.  Evan sat down and picked out the opening notes of Sweet Home Alabama, but not knowing the full song, he quickly switched gears to play a song that he knew all the way through.  So that day, in Luckenbach Texas, Evan played.....God of Thunder by KISS.  (I'm not sure, but I would think that is the first time that has ever been played in Luckenbach...)  It was a great experience, one I hope he never forgets.  I'd love to go back on the weekend, since that is the time the food vendors are there as well as the music.  It would have been great to eat lunch or dinner under the oaks while listening to some good tunes.

We also spent a day visiting Pedernales Falls State Park.  The water was low and hiking down to it wasn't a "walk in the park" (yuk, yuk) but once we got down to the river it was incredible.  The boys enjoyed trying to catch all the fish that would swim up and nibble on your toes.

On the way home we stopped in Austin and spent  a few hours swimming in Barton Springs, and we also stopped in Brenham and walked the antique shops in downtown and sat down to some Blue Bell at an ice cream parlor.  Breaking up the return trip made it much easier for the boys (and us!) and it also gave the trip a nice "Tour of Texas" feel.

With Labor Day wrapping up our Summer, came the beginning of the 2011-2012 School of Rock, and this year we have 3 students (Drew 1st, Elliot 3rd and Evan is a big time 6th grade middle schooler this year!!!)

So, that was our summer in a nutshell.  We are ready for this heat to go away and bring on the cool Fall weather and, Please God, some much needed rain.  Our prayers go out to all who are fighting the wild fires around the nation, and especially here in Texas.

God Bless You All!!
Love, the Williams Family

oh, and p.s.  - one more photo I'd like to share with ya'll:

"We're gonna need a bigger boat..."

What's On the Menchu?

For years growing up, that was my Dad's way of asking what was for dinner, and it drove my Mom bananas.  Upon finishing the meal, the typical response was an imitation of my Pappy's deep drawl, "pretty fair chow bay-bee."

My cooking skills are limited to breakfast. I can scramble eggs and I make a pretty faithful version of my Grandma Denton's homemade biscuits. That's about where it ends.

My wife, on the other hand, is a wizard in the kitchen.  She takes pride in cooking anything and everything and she loves to experiment with new ideas, especially when it comes to our little Dylan who apparently has a food allergy.  (What exactly he is allergic to we have yet to uncover, but currently Kim has taken him off of dairy and gluten and the rash that has been bothering him is clearing up nicely.)

Back to my main point though, a meal in the Williams household is rarely a quick or easy feat.  She puts out dishes that deserve to be shown on the Food Network, and we've actually joked that she should send in an idea for a show called "One Armed Chef," since many times, she's cooking while holding a baby.

I love to come home to the aroma of dinner cooking.  To me, that's home.  I really need to fix the weatherstripping on our front door because I can smell dinner before I walk in!  I go to the kitchen to see what is cooking and usually don't have to wait long for dinner to begin.  We'll call the boys to the table and as they all run up and go to their chairs, sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes, one of them will look at the plate and say, "YUCK!"

Our boys are not really that picky, but sometimes, they do not agree with what it is we are having for dinner and they will complain about it to no end.  Sometimes it is something little, like butter on mashed potatoes.  Other times it's the whole meal, and they haven't learned that you don't tell someone who just spent hours cooking your dinner that it is "gross."

The other day, my good friend Clay and I met for a prayer breakfast at McDonald's.  After discussing who is our favorite Beatle John or Paul, the writing skills of Robert Plant vs. Pete Townshend and the merits of quitting our real jobs to pursue our true calling of becoming rock stars, we settled in on the real task at hand which was, after all, to pray.

My prayer was to obtain the Graces necessary to accept God's Will in all things, and we turned to the analogy a picky eater.  Heaven is often described as a wedding feast.  A banquet.  There will be food and when the LORD serves us our dinner, we better not say "YUCK!"

But sometimes I feel like that's exactly what I'm doing when I don't agree with God's Will for me.  He has plans for us all.  He has a plan for me.  That plan requires my cooperation.  He puts things in motion, and if it bucks my system I'm like the boy crying because there's butter on my mashed potatoes.

"How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?" --Pink Floyd

Of course, all kids (myself included) will gladly clean their plates if it is full of dessert!  Yet, your belly doesn't stay full for long afterwards, and you are left wanting more.  Desserts are not filling, not nourishing and do not sustain our bodies.  We need the long lasting food of the banquet.  We need meat! 

"I gave you milk to drink, not meat; for you were not able as yet. But neither indeed are you now able; for you are yet carnal." --1 Corinthians 3:2

It's after dinner now at the Williams household.  The boys are upstairs playing, Dylan is watching Go Diego GO and Kim looks at me and says "If you do the dishes I'll be your best friend..."

"I want you to 'want' to do the dishes" --My wife

Remember how I said that Kim is a wizard in the kitchen?  Well, it takes a lot of pots and pans and measuring cups and baking pans and spoons and forks and knives and just about every item in our pantry to prepare that meal!  And I totally agree with the "I cook, you clean" philosopy of duties.  But, WOW, the kitchen looks like a tornado just ripped through Sur la Table!  Now, this is where God is molding me.  He knows that I need this.  I need to understand that to get the good - the feast, the prize, the eternal reward; I have to deal with the things that help get me there.  In short, God's plan has dishes!  Illness.  Job uncertainty.  Monetary struggles.  Temptations.  Africa.  These are all just part of the deal.  You have to take the bad with the good.  There could be no Resurrection on Easter Sunday until Christ had suffered and died on Good Friday.
 
I want to do God's dishes.  I want to be at the Heavenly banquet, and I want to clean my plate.  And when I'm done, I want to look up at God and say, "Pretty fair chow bay-bee."

John Mark McMillan

Tonight my good friend Bill Phillips and I went to Magnolia, TX to see John Mark McMillan and his band play as the opening act to the Robbie Seay Band, and boy were we blown away!  As an opening act, their set was short, but very powerful.  They opened up with Breaking Down and followed that with Out of the Ground.  Next was the wonderful How He Loves.  I'm a huge fan of this song, but seeing it live was more powerful than I ever imagined.  They closed the night with Skeleton Bones.  Another wonderful song.  After the set, they went to their merchandise table and mingled with fans.  Bill and I talked to him and the band for a good 20 minutes or so.  We supported the cause by buying their album - yes, on vinyl - and they gratefully signed them for us.

One of the things that really suprised me was how approachable the whole band was.  Really down to earth and very nice and obliging to the fans.  I noticed John Mark praying with two girls about a situation that the girls were clearly concerned about.

Me and John Mark's guitarist, James Duke.

Getting back to the vinyl albums, he made a comment that there is an art to making music and an art of listening to music.  When you have an album on vinyl, there are sounds there that don't exist in digital media.  You have to engage yourself to the music because you have to put the needle on the record, flip the album over, etc. to listen to it.  Well, when I got home, I broke out Kim's old record player and prayed that the years had been good to it.  After a few crackles from the needle, the sweet sounds of Death in His Grave came out of the tiny, dusty speaker as though it was travelling through 20 years of time and space.  I was in Heaven.  It has been over 20 years since I've put a record onto a turntable, and it was no doubt, Pink Floyd's The Wall.

The album is heavier and thicker than what I remember albums feeling like.  Thank you, John Mark, for reminding me of what music is supposed to do to us.

What a long, strange trip it's been.

You Say It's Your Birthday...

The boys' long awaited "Rock and Roll" birthday party has finally come!  Kim made an awesome cake that was topped with KISS figures, we decorated the house with posters, set up Rock Band/Guitar Hero on the downstairs TV, and set up Evan's guitar and my bass in the back room so we could "play our gig" for the guests.

As each party goer arrived, their hands were stamped with a skull and crossbones stamp for admittance, then it was off to either play Rock Band or to make their own custom Rock and Roll t-shirt.  We cut out stencils for The Beatles, AC/DC and a Flying V guitar.  We also bought some pre-made stencils to add extra flair if they so desired.

After the t-shirts were made, the live music began.  I give Evan huge props for how much he has advanced on the guitar.  When he received his electric guitar for Christmas, he said he wanted to play a concert for his birthday party, and we practiced for months getting three good songs down to play.  We opened up with I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, followed by The Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin.  The closer was Iron Man by Black Sabbath.

After that, everyone was ready for some cake and ice cream and to open gifts.

Everyone had a blast and after a bit more Guitar Hero (Evan got a new one as a gift) the party drew to a close.

It will be hard to top this one.  I think I had just as much fun as the boys did, and for sure this was the coolest birthday party I've ever been to!

Enjoy the photos!

The table was set.

Kim did a great job on the cake!

Dylan gets a little drum action

Preparing for the party.  Elliot wanted a Paul Stanley face.

Rock Band!

Drew and Jared decide to go for the real thing.

Rocking out with Evan...a great moment for me!

All the rockers get together for a picture.

A future rock star.

Time for presents!

Pop wearing my old Led Zeppelin shirt...and a full head of hair!!

Up to this point, Elliot had recieved a guitar stand and a guitar amp.  Hmmm.  I wonder what this one could be??!!

Elliot finally joins the electric age!

Elliot tests out his new axe.  (Unfortunately I think it's too big for him.  We may have to find a smaller one for him.)

Pop and Evan on Guitar Hero

Drew and Dylan under the table and dreaming.

Trying out Evan's new Guitar Hero

Sing me a song

Kim and Drew kick out some jams

I'm in the Band!

We need a bigger "music room..."

Viking Quest

Going back to Homeschooling, I really want to be more involved in homeschooling this year, and we are really trying hard to make it fun for the boys (especially Evan), so I looked at their books and found out what they were going to be studying to see if I could make a fun lesson for them. To my delight, Evan's history lesson a few weeks ago was on Vikings, so I decided to create a treasure hunt for him to find Viking Facts hidden throughout the house. The Clues were given as videos, and once he found the fact, there was a question on the back of it. The answer to the question was the password for the next video clue. At the end, I created a video clip of Viking Pictures mixed in with video of Evan playing guitar, with the whole thing being set to Led Zeppelin's The Immigrant Song (which is about Vikings!) I had a blast making the thing and at the very end, even put a blooper reel together. I'm going to attempt to post the video clues below. Hopefully they work. Unfortunately I cannot post the final "prize video" due to copyright laws. But here are my video clues and the blooper reel. Enjoy!

Intro and Clue #1

The clue was in the closet, and it was a picture of a runic carving. The password to the next clue was "runic."

Clue #2

The clue was a picture of a Viking Long Ship in the black chest that is visible behind me as I videoed myself. Kim's dad gave us the chest years ago and it is filled with their family tree information and oodles of old pictures. "Long" was the password for the next clue.

Clue #3

The clue was hidden behind the door of the gas valve for the fire place. It was a picture of "Valhalla" which was also the password for the last clue.

Clue #4

The clue was hidden in my guitar case.

Again, I couldn't upload the final video, so use your imagination. After the video came the blooper reel.

The Blooper Reel:

The Story of My Life: the Musical

I’ve always been around music, but it wasn’t until Middle School where I’d actually go out and buy a tape or album. My life is broken up into different chapters with certain albums/bands providing the soundtrack. I’m a creature of habit, so I tend to get a band stuck in my tape deck/cd/mp3 player and leave it there for an extended period of time. Here’s how it worked out for me:

1982 – 1985: The Middle School Years
This was the heyday of the hair metal bands and I was ate up with it. I had posters of Motley Crue, Ratt and Poison all over my room. The Crue were my favorite though, first with Shout at the Devil and then Theater of Pain. Afterwards, I discovered their first album, Too Fast for Love which is very good. The last song on the cd was On With the Show and I get chills just thinking about it. Other notables were Bon Jovi and Twisted Sister.

1985 – 1989: The High School Years
At this point in my life I discovered, and was immersed in, Led Zeppelin. My best friend and soul brother #1, Scott Dougherty, and I were jamming out on tennis rackets pretending to play Black Dog and Rock and Roll not knowing who it was. I had always heard of Stairway to Heaven, but never actually heard it and one night the DJ on the radio said that the midnight request that night was Stairway, so I taped it. The tape ran out just as the solo kicked in and I was devastated. I knew my brother had a Led Zeppelin CD, so I asked him to just tape Stairway to Heaven. Luckily he taped all of Led Zeppelin IV. I was surprised to discover that Black Dog and Rock and Roll were on it. I loved every song. After wearing that tape out I bought Led Zeppelin II. Amazingly, it took me a good 3 or 4 listens before I really got into that album, but once it grabbed me I was hooked and I knew I had to get every Led Zeppelin album in existence. And I did. Every one I have on vinyl including the original Led Zeppelin III with the Alistair Crowley inscription on the blank space, the original Physical Graffiti and original Presence. I also have 2 bootleg Zeppelin albums. One is called Mudslide I don’t recall the name of the other. Stairway to Heaven was my reason for playing guitar. I also discovered that Led Zeppelin IV was released on the very day I was born – November 8, 1971. Cosmic! Another gem from this era in my life was the Platoon Soundtrack. Scott and I would stay up hours with that album. These were the days that forged my musical taste for classic rock (obviously) and I discovered The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, The Beatles, The Doors, Hendrix and Janis Joplin during this time. During the Summers we’d listen to Van Halen while swimming out by the pool.

Summer 1989 – 1993: The Early College Years
Pink Floyd dominated these days. It started with my good friend Phillip Godeaux and I learning how to play Wish You Were Here. Then I discovered the Wall. Man, what great days those were. I fell in love with Phillip’s sister, Mary, and when she broke my heart I turned exclusively to The Wall for comfort. Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Delicate Sound of Thunder were also very quintessential to my tape player in those days. Other notables were Guns n Roses, The Cult, Concrete Blonde, and Yaz. I went on a mini-binge with Concrete Blonde there for a while. Tomorrow Wendy is such an incredible song. These were also the days that Scott left for the Marine Corps. He gave me his copy of The Cult’s Love before he left for boot camp and it has remained in my car to this very day always prominently placed near the tape deck. Also KISS Destroyer and Rock and Roll Over were stuck in my tape deck on various occasions especially around Halloween. During this time I also fell in love with The Police: Every Breath You Take, the Singles CD while at a Theta Chi Fraternity CLC Convention in North Carolina. I also discovered that Roger Waters had some pretty good solo material out there. The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking and Amused to Death were fantastic. Pros and Cons was actually an option for Pink Floyd, but they did The Wall instead. At some point during this time, after Scott had joined the Marines, my brother and I began going to Pepper’s on Thursday nights. They had a live 2 man band that night, Tom and Mitch. My brother convinced me to get up and play during one of their breaks and I was hooked on playing live. This small event led to me and Scott playing during all their breaks, to us playing half the night, to us having our own night at Pepper’s and eventually at OB’s and some other places around Lake Charles.

Summer 1993 – 1995: The Late College Years
The Smashing Pumpkins. The Fall of 1993 was one of the best years of my life. I had just started dating Kim and the Fraternity life was really fun. It was all going my way when one of my friends came to the Fraternity house with the Singles soundtrack. I listened to it amazed. One song in particular caught my attention, Drown by the Smashing Pumpkins. Not too long after that I heard Cherub Rock on the radio and I bought Siamese Dream. Wow. Totally blown away. The very next day I bought Gish. From that point on I was a Pumpkin Head. I bought every album, and extended single they released. Other notables were, of course, Pearl Jam and Nirvana as well as Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots and Mother Love Bone. Man, what a musical explosion those days were.

Summer 1995 – Spring 1996: The Break
Kim broke up with me, and for 9 months I was in the depths of despair. Just before the breakup I had discovered Jeff Buckley and now that we were broken up, his songs took on a whole new meaning. Last Goodbye, Lover You Should Have Come Over and Lilac Wine (“Listen to me, I cannot see clearly…is that she coming to me…nearly?”). Man, I would just ball my eyes out listening to this. Lots of dance music reminds me of this time period, since we’d go out every night and get hammered. Songs like White Lines by Grand Master Flash, Headhunter by Front 242 and Boy by Book of Love remind me of these days. I also got hooked on The Crow Soundtrack and The Cult’s self titled album during this time.

Spring 1996 – Fall 1998: The Lafayette Years
I moved to Lafayette, LA and in 1997 Kim and I were married. These were some good days. I met two more of my soul brothers, Chris Guardia and Scott Norton, and we started a band and played a few times at Kitty’s Sports Bar. We went through several bass players, but eventually when Klark Bowen joined, we had the band as I will always remember it. I affectionately refer to it now as “The Klark Version.” We would practice every Wednesday night at Chris’ house on Albarado Street, and one night we captured the magic on a recording that I affectionately refer to as “The Tape.” We played our one and only gig at the P.A.G.A.N. Fest in Henderson, LA and shortly thereafter I moved to Houston. The music that defines those days for me is Radiohead and The Dave Matthews Band. One of my Fraternity brothers taped 3 or 4 of the “Dick’s Picks” Grateful Dead CD’s for me and I really liked them.

Fall 1998 – Spring 2000: Houston, pre-Kids
Kim and I moved to Houston and spent many weekends downtown with my good friend and Fraternity brother, Brian Hall. Brian turned us on to Martin Sexton. Black Sheep and The American are two great albums. One day, Brian and I did a bike tour of downtown Houston. I don’t know how far we rode, but we’d ride a while and find a bar, stop in for a beer, and ride some more. At some point during the trek we began singing the entire Black Sheep album. That must have been a sight to see. We would also listen to Barenaked Ladies Rock Spectacle non stop. This is a band that took me by surprise. On the outside they were goofballs with songs like “If I Had a Million Dollars”, but then the song “The Old Apartment” just resonated with me. As a life long Louisianan, I was displaced from my “home” and I yearned to go back to my old stomping grounds and just remember the times we had in them. During this time I somehow got introduced to David Gray. White Ladder reminds me of the Spring.

Spring 2000 – Spring 2005: Family life in Mills Branch, Kingwood
During the early years of parenthood I got hooked on Nick Drake’s Pink Moon by watching a VW commercial. I bought the CD and began using it as a lullaby for putting Evan to sleep in the middle of the night. I later bought Five Leaves Left and found it to be equally good. His story is amazing. The dude that had control of his music sold all the rights to every band he had except Drake’s. He said he always knew deep down that something would come of Nick’s music and boy was he right. We moved to Kingwood and I got heavily involved in our Church’s Life Teen music ministry. I had never before heard contemporary Christian music, so bands like Third Day, Casting Crowns, The David Crowder Band, Mercy Me and Shawn McDonald really surprised me and were fun to play live.

Spring 2005 – Present: Expanding Family in Elm Grove, Kingwood
Having kids is pretty cool. When you see them jamming to the music that you love, there’s just nothing in the world that can describe that feeling. But sometimes, they lead you to new music. Curious George had a soundtrack provided by Jack Johnson and it was amazing. His style is much like that of Shawn McDonald. During one of my trips to Italy the restaurant where we were eating dinner was playing the entire James Blunt CD Back to Bedlam and it was a perfect CD for a perfect evening. One night I picked up The Band’s The Last Waltz DVD and was captivated by the combination of Levon Helm’s southern drawl and Rick Danko’s harmonizing. I bought the CD of that performance and for a few months that never came off of my mp3 player. With the release of Across the Universe, I went on a binge with the Beatles. I had bought Let it Be (Naked) and Sgt. Peppers a while back, so I dug those out and put them on the mp3 player along with the Soundtrack to Across the Universe. It was also during this time that I had full blown freak out over The Who. I had bought a greatest hits CD a while back but never really got into them. One day I bought Tommy and then one thing led to another and I was in love all over again. Watching them destroy the Rock and Roll Circus with “A Quick One While He’s Away” is awe inspiring. Check it out on YouTube. Also, while you’re at it, check out “We’re Not Gonna Take It” from Woodstock. Wow. Keith Moon is a maniac on drums. Live at the Isle of Wight is incredible. DVD and CD are very, very good. It is here at the present that I’ve met another soul brother, Clay Parker. He and I had a regular jam session/boys night out where he’d come over and he and I and Evan, Elliot and Drew would all rock out while Kim and Clay’s girlfriend Allison would watch Dancing With the Stars at Allison’s house. Clay and I have laid down some of our evenings on the 4-track. Some gems are in there. One night we were jamming and our neighbor came over and we all started singing Tom Petty. At some point during those few songs, I realized just how cool it is to have the friends that I have in my life. And you all are a part of that.

Thanks for being part of my soundtrack, and I can’t wait to see what music the future holds.

My Son the Rock Star

Kim took this picture of Evan at the Children's Museum in Lake Charles. For the record, The Beatles' Hey Jude was playing while he was doing this.